


Thrill of the Hunt

by Kelticmoon



Category: Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Gen, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 01:24:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17930114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: When a ghost from a past Cheetor's running from shows up on the mysterious planet they've crashed on, it's up to him to face his fears and confront it in order to save Primal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely inspired by the Transformers Animated episode by the same name. It takes place during season 1 between Before the Storm and Other Voices, Part 1

_Explosions rocked the air as a battle raged through a Cybertronian city. A small family of five, a fembot and her children all took shelter inside a small house waiting for the fighting to stop. Suddenly, a large bot kicked in their door and entered with three other mechs._

_“Run kids!” the fembot called over her shoulder as she took on the intruders while her children ran and hid. A sparklet and the oldest of his sparkling sisters hid in a cupboard with slats, clinging to each other in fear; trying desperately not to make a sound as their mom took on the intruders. The sparklet held his sister to him, shielding her optics while he watched the fight between the slats in the cupboard. He watched as his mother defeated two of them using her EMP/magnetic field generator, before the big mech ran his energon sword through her midsection and shot her directly in the spark, killing her. Then, he watched as the two remaining intruders pulled the generator off of his mother’s arm before searching for the sparklet and his sisters. It didn’t take them long to find his two youngest sisters. He covered his remaining sister’s auditory sensors and shielded her optics as he heard the intruders kill his sisters; wanting desperately to rush out and protect them, but knowing he had to protect his remaining sister as well. The sparklet could feel his sister shaking with fear beside him. He watched as the two intruders walked around the room, looking for them. Just as the two mech’s threw open the cabinet door; a loud alarm began to sound._

~

Cheetor awakens with a start, panting and gasping as the alarm blares. He looks around him and sees he's in his quarters on the Axalon; not in a cupboard clinging to his sister. He looks down at himself and, even though he's in his beast mode, knows that he's almost a full grown mech, not a sparklet.

Cheetor jumps down off his berth and transforms before leaning against the wall in his quarters as he rubbing his optics with his hand.

“It was just a dream,” Cheetor tells himself. “You’re safe, now. You’re safe.”

Cheetor repeats the mantra over and over to himself as he closes his tan optics, fighting back the wave of grief and despair that usually follows that particular nightmare.

Suddenly, his door opens and he looks to see Dinobot poke his head in.

“Hurry up, Feline!” Dinobot says quickly, before running out of the room.

Wordlessly, Cheetor shakes his head to clear it and runs after Dinobot, silently praising the alarm for waking him up.

The two enter the bridge to find Optimus, Rhinox, and Rattrap already there (Tigatron and Airazor are both in the field).

Optimus turns and sees them enter.

“Good, you’re both here,” he says.

“Are we under attack?” Dinobot asks, ever ready for battle.

“We’re not sure,” Optimus says as Cheetor moves to stand near him; more to feel safe than to listen better.

“Long range scanners have picked up a temporal anomaly followed by what looks like a ship,” Rhinox says. “It's definitely a Cybertronian signature.” Then Rhinox spins around and adds, “Could be a rescue ship?”

“Can we get a visual?” Optimus asks; the sound of hope evident in his voice.

Rhinox nods and hit a few buttons on the computer and an image of a ship appears. The ship is smaller than both the Axalon and the Darksyde and looks pretty old and banged up. On the side of the ship is an insignia.

“Rhinox, zoom in on the side of the ship,” Optimus says.

Rhinox does as he's told and everyone in the room gasps as they see a Predacon symbol with two daggers crossed behind it.

Cheetor swears his spark stops pulsating for a split second as he recognizes the symbol.

“Preds!” Rattrap growls.

“Not… just any Predacons,” Dinobot says with a snarl. Everyone but Cheetor looks at Dinobot as he explains. “That symbol… is the mark of what are known as Predacon Ravagers. They are…for want of a better name… trophy hunters.”

“I remember them during the War,” Optimus says. “They followed the Predacon fleet and whenever the Predacons were fighting in or near a city they would go behind them and raid the town, stealing anything or anyone they deemed as a “trophy”. Most of the civilian casualties were because of them.”

“They are cowards! There is no glory or honor in attacking such targets!” Dinobot snarled in disgust.

“So what ‘r they doin’ here?” Rattrap asks.

The entire time the others are talking, Cheetor’s gaze is frozen on the image of the ship as his vision blurs.

~

_He was a sparklet again, but this time he and his sister are on a ship (just like the one on the viewer screen)._

_Instead of killing them, the intruders had decided to keep them, for what reason neither of them knew._

_He held his sister’s hand as she slept with her head in his lap and looked around the cell they had been put in. On the wall of the inside of the cell was the symbol that was on the intruders’ arms. There were other mechs around their age, some siblings like he and his sister, in the cell with them. Many of them were crying._

_He was scared and he missed his mom and his other sisters, but he knew he had to be brave and take care of his sister._

~

“Hey Spots! ‘You coming or what?”

Rattrap’s voice cuts across Cheetor’s thoughts.

“Huh?” Cheetor says, looking away from the now blank screen. Rattrap is halfway across the room to the lift with Rhinox and Dinobot already outside and Optimus standing beside the lift waiting for them.

“Dat ship’s landed. We’re goin’ ta see what that slaggin’ Ravager’s doin’ here,” Rattrap tells him. “Let’s go!”

Cheetor hesitates for a moment before following them on to the lift. As Cheetor stands on the lift waiting for it to lower, he misses the concerned look Optimus gives him.

The Maximal captain saw Cheetor’s frozen, but distant stare at the ship. Was that recognition and terror he saw in the younger bot’s optics?

When the platform hit the ground, Rhinox and Dinobot are already in their respective beast modes. Rattrap transforms into his beast mode and hops onto Rhinox’s back for a lift.

Cheetor moves to follow, but Optimus catches his arm making him look at him questioningly.

“Everything ok?” Optimus asks with concern.

Cheetor just shakes his head and gives Optimus his usual, though obviously forced, smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go."

He changes into his beast mode and runs ahead.

The Maximal captain watches the youngster for a moment before transforming himself and climbing onto Rhinox’s back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheetor needs a hug in this chapter.

The ship had landed with a large rock wall behind it. When they get to where the ship is, it looks like the ship landed with minimal damage.

Optimus Primal gets down off of Rhinox and moves to inspect the ship.

“Not so fast, Optimus Primal,” says an all too familiar voice from behind them. Everyone turns and sees Megatron and his crew standing on the rise near the ship. “That is the Predacon symbol on the side of the ship; Yes?” he says. “The contents of that ship are ours! Predacons, Terrorize!”

“Maximals, Maximize!” Optimus commands.

After everyone transforms, a fight breaks out between the two factions.

The fight quickly ends when a large black lion exits the ship and singlehandedly takes out the Predacons, all while still in his beast mode.

After the Preds retreat, the black lion turns his attention to the Maximals and attacks them as well.

Cheetor stares at the symbol on the side of the ship as the lion attacks Dinobot. Once again his vision blurs as images fill his processor.

~

_He was standing with his sister in what looked like a holding area of some kind. It looked like they were at some kind of auction house. When they arrived, a group of bots tried to separate him from his sister but after Cheetor fought off and severely hurt several of them, they were left together._

_There were full grown mechs, all of whom were Predacons, walking around and inspecting them. A few of them were touching them and prodding them and looking in their mouths; for what reason Cheetor didn’t know. Word of him fighting and injuring a whole team of handlers had apparently spread because they were getting a lot of attention. Whenever someone tried to touch or prod him or his sister, he would hiss at or bite them. One brave bot made the mistake of grabbing his sister and promptly lost the hand he grabbed her with because Cheetor had bitten it off._

_After that, no one dared try to touch him or his sister. Eventually he and his sister were moved onto a large platform with a large crowd looking down at them and an auctioneer taking bids for their sale. Very few bots placed a bid; everyone had heard about Cheetor biting the one bot’s hand off for just touching his sister. Even if they were looking to buy both, no one wanted a bot that was so strong willed. Right when he heard the sound of the gavel declaring them sold, Cheetor suddenly feels someone rush into him, knocking him to the ground._

~

Cheetor shakes his head to clear it and looks up to see Airazor next to him and the black lion right where he had been standing frozen. He looks around in bewilderment and sees that Tigatron has arrived as well and is carrying a severely mauled Dinobot while firing.

As Airazor helps him to his feet, he hears Optimus call out, “Maximals fall back.”

The Maximal captain looks like he’d taken a nasty hit from the lion as he fires his wrist guns at it. Rhinox, who looks like he's been mauled as well, is firing his chainguns to cover their retreat.

“Ya don’t gotta tell me twice,” Rattrap says as he fires a few more shots before fleeing. Airazor fires as she and Cheetor retreats as well.

Fortunately, the lionformer doesn't seem to want to follow them.

When they are far enough to ensure it was safe, they reverted back to their respective beast modes and head back to base. When they get back to base, they transform again, they place Dinobot in the R chamber and discussing what just happened.

“Well, dat went over like Rhinox on a catapult,” Rattrap from his seat at the circular computer in the middle of the bridge.

“It clearly wants nothing to do with any of us; that’s for sure,” Rhinox states from his seat to Optimus’ left.

“The question is; what’s he doing here?” Optimus asks with a thoughtful look on his face.

Cheetor sits silently off to the side with a pensive look on his face as the others talk. He has a pretty good idea as to why the Ravager is in this sector of space. After the war ended, Ravagers became drifters and scavengers traveling the galaxy to feed their obsession with trophy collecting. That this one happens to be on a planet with another Cybertronian war raging is most likely purely bad luck and coincidence.

“And what the pit happened to you, Spots?!” Rattrap demands suddenly, catching Cheetor off guard.

“Wha…what do you mean?” Cheetor stammers, looking up at them as he's pulled from his thoughts.

“You know what I mean! You froze up like a block of ice back dere! If Airazor hadn’t knocked ya outta da way, you woulda been in the R Chamber with Scalebelly!” Rattrap says.

“Rattrap, be quiet,” Optimus tells.

Cheetor quickly recovers and glares at Rattrap.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you, Ratface!” Cheetor shoots back as he gets up and heads for the door, which was across from where Rattrap was seated.

“You’re right, ya don’t,” Rattrap starts. “’Cause I can pretty much figure out what happened myself.”

Sensing where this is going, Airazor looks sharply at the Maximal spy.

“Rattrap, for once in your life; shut up!”

Rattrap ignores her.

“The ‘big tough bot’ got his first taste of what war is really like and got scared. Guess ya ain’t as tough as you thought you were, huh?” Rattrap mocks.

Cheetor freezes in his tracks as Rattrap’s jab struck a nerve. Only Tigatron and Airazor are able to see the look of shock and pain that crossed his face.

That look quickly crumbles into a look of fury. It takes every ounce of willpower not to jump the rodent or to let his pain show on his face as he turns to face the Maximal spy.

"Ya know, not everyone who fought in the last Great War was a soldier, Rattrap," Cheetor tells him. “You think just because I'm younger than you and fresh out of Maximal Basic that I've had everything handed to me on a silver platter! You have NO idea what I've been through! Next time, someone tells you to shut up, take a hint!”

With that, Cheetor turns on his heel as he storms out of the room.

“Cheetor!”

“Let him go, Optimus,” Tigatron advises calmly. “I believe he could use some privacy right now.”

The closer Cheetor gets to his quarters, the more his glare wavers until his face crumbles and he runs the rest of the way to his quarters, locking the door behind him. He leans back against the door and slides down until he's sitting on the floor. Light from the two moons shines through the window into his dark room.

He doesn’t bother turning the light on as he hugs his knees and tears slip down his face; another flashback flooding his vision once again.

~

_Cheetor reels back after being struck. He was older now, but still a sparklet._

_A few years had passed since that day he and his sister had been sold to a Predacon. Their master had bought several other mechs about his age on the same day. They were all forced to work in a foundry for the Predacon side of the war. Cheetor had been struck for standing between the foreman (who happened to be the bot who had kidnapped them) and Cheetor’s sister, who now was a sparklet as well._

_His sister wasn’t very strong physically so she couldn’t carry much and needed to rest often. The foreman seemed to think his sister was being lazy and was yelling at her. He started to strike Cheetor’s sister but Cheetor managed to get in between them and took a blow for her. The foreman was perfectly content in carrying out his sister’s punishment on him instead. He thrashed Cheetor so severely; he hadn’t been able to move for a full mega-cycle. The foreman seemed to derive pleasure out of beating Cheetor. At times Cheetor wondered if the bot harassed his sister on purpose, knowing Cheetor would always get in between them._

_The foreman always left Cheetor alive however and since Cheetor had taken the beating for his sister, he always left her alone afterward to take care of Cheetor._

_To Cheetor, seeing her mostly unscathed was worth the beatings. He knew his sister wasn’t physically strong enough to take it like he was. What she lacked in physical strength, she had made up for in spirit. That night, after his sister tended his injuries, they curled up together in their cell with the other bots that were bought the same day as them and she sang their lullaby to him as he fell asleep._

_For her, Cheetor would do anything, if it meant keeping her safe._

~

Cheetor leans his head back against the door behind him; his sobs subsiding as he stares out the window in his quarters at the two moons of the planet that has been a place of refuge for him.

Yes the Beast Wars are important and dangerous, but this is the first chance he's had to forget everything.  As messed up as it is, this is the most safe he's ever felt since, even in the midst of a war.  For once, Cheetor could just be a kid.

Now as Cheetor wipes the energon tears from his faceplates he realizing that his past is starting to catch up to him and he can’t run for much longer and that thought alone terrifies him.

Cheetor gets up and unlocks the door before he stumbling over to his berth and collapsing onto it, a wave of fatigue washing over him.

Not long after, he hears a light knock on the door of his quarters.

“Cheetor?” Cheetor hears when he doesn't answer.

It's Optimus.

“It’s open…” Cheetor mumbles softly from his berth.

The door opens a little as the Maximal captain steps into the room. Even in the dark, Cheetor can tell Optimus is still in his robot form.

Optimus closes the door softly behind him as he moves closer to Cheetor’s berth. He kneels down and places a hand on the younger bot’s helmet.

“Sorry I stormed out like that…” Cheetor mumbles, grateful the dark room doesn't show his tear-stained faceplates.

“Don’t worry about it,” Optimus says softly, stroking Cheetor’s helmet with his thumb. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” Cheetor mumbles, truthfully.

“Are you sure?” Optimus asks. “I’m a good listener.”

The truth is that Cheetor wants to tell him, but he also not used to talking about it.

So he just mumbles, “I’m sure.”

“Alright; I’ll respect that,” Optimus says softly as he stands up and pats Cheetor’s helmet gently before adding, “get some rest; ok?”

Optimus turns and walks toward the door. Before he leaves, he turns back to Cheetor and says, “Cheetor?”

“Hmm?” Cheetor responds.

“If you change your mind, my door is always open. I’m always here if you need me,” Optimus tells him, softly.

A small, tired smile tugs at Cheetor’s faceplates

 “I know…”

Optimus leaves and Cheetor falls into a dreamless recharge cycle.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning when his cycle ends, he gets up and, after getting some energon, changes into beast mode to go about his business while pointedly ignoring Rattrap.

Everything comes to an abrupt halt when Airazor tells them over the comlink the new arrival is on the move toward their base. With Dinobot fully repaired from his mauling the previous day, the entire Maximal crew mobilizes to meet the new Pred.

They all meet in a clearing, about halfway between the newcomer’s ship and the Axalon.

“Terrorize!” he says, smirking as he transforms into a large, dark mech with the same symbol on his arm like a tattoo.

Cheetor recognizes him immediately and freezes in beast mode while the others attack. The images of the bot that murdered his family, kidnapped him and his sister, sold them into slavery, and ensured he received an almost daily beating flooded his processor along with another flashback.

~

_He was a gamma now, and his sister a much older sparklet. Their slave master had heard his sister singing and had made her in charge of caring for his sparkling. In exchange, Cheetor himself had become his personal slave and bodyguard; taking care of and protecting their master and his private rooms in exchange for his sister’s safety. Too many of the Predacon’s supervisors had been injured or killed in attempts to hurt Cheetor’s sister, and rather than kill Cheetor, his master apparently appreciated a bot so determined and able to fight and win that he was willing to make a deal. As long as Cheetor remained his personal slave and did his master’s bidding, the Predacon promised no one would hurt his sister._

_Situation aside, things were going smoothly until one day when his sister began to fall ill. She had never had a very strong constitution but it was clear she was coming down with something serious. Cheetor soon realized that she needed help, but he also knew that if their master learned that she were ill that she would be taken from him and killed, deal or no. Cheetor could fight the stupid underlings that worked for the Pred, but he knew full well that he didn’t stand a chance against his master or the foreman, who still found ways to beat him senseless from time to time (not that he wouldn’t try to fight them if needed). They hid her illness, hoping for a miracle._

_That miracle came in the form of a missive that his master happened to leave on his desk as Cheetor was cleaning his master’s chambers. It informed their master that a Maximal scouting party was in the area and to be on his guard. He saw the map the missive contained, stating where the band was to be passing through and when. This was not only a chance to bring the Maximals here, but also a chance for Cheetor to get help for his sister. He could take his sister and run for the scouting band. The Maximals would surely help them and know what was wrong with his sister. Cheetor told his sister his plan and they silently prepared as they awaited the day._

_The missive had said the scouting band would be passing through in the early morning megacycles, so Cheetor knew they would have to be ready. However, the evening before they were to attempt their escape, his sister was too sick to move from the bed they shared. His sister insisted that he and someone else go without her and bring back help; that she would only slow them down. Cheetor had hated the idea and had cried at the thought of abandoning his sister. His sister reassured him that she knew he wasn’t abandoning her and that leaving her to get help was the only way to save them both. Knowing in his spark that she was right, he promised her that he would return as soon as he could with help._

_That evening, Cheetor had slipped a little something extra into the energon his boss consumed that would ensure that he and whomever else he refueled with that day would stay in recharge while Cheetor made his run for help with four other gammas around his age. As luck would have it, almost all of his master’s supervisors and underlings were refueling with him that night._

_Except one._

_So when the megacycle came for him to run, Cheetor left his sister in the care of one of the few slaves he had grown to trust and promised he would return with help. Even though he knew it had to be this way, leaving his sister was the single hardest thing he had ever done. He and his group were about halfway to the rendezvous point when they heard someone coming after them._

_It was the foreman, the only one not refueling with their master._

They began to run as fast as they could toward where the Maximals were said to be.

~

Cheetor is suddenly brought back to the present as Darkstride takes out everyone but Optimus Primal and Cheetor.

“Those are some nice wrist guns ya got there, Primal,” Darkstride states darkly, as he attacks the Maximal captain.

“How do you know who I am?” Optimus Primal grunts as he fights off the Pred.

“It’s hard to miss a descendant of Prime, especially one who is a veteran of the last Great War,” Darkstride says casually as he shoves Optimus away.

He pulls out a familiar glove that Cheetor recognizes immediately.

“That’s an EMP generator!” Cheetor calls out.

The warning comes too late. Darkstride hits Optimus Primal with an EMP blast, knocking him out.

“No, Optimus!” Cheetor yells, as Darkstride shoulders the Maximal Captain and hits the Maximal team with a Magnetic field that disables them long enough for him to escape with their captain.

His processor spins as his worst fear plays out in front of him.

‘He has Optimus! He has Optimus!’ he thinks repeatedly.

“We gotta do something, he’s got the boss-monkey,” Rattrap says, getting to his feet.

“We know where his ship is,” Rhinox states.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Airazor says. “Let’s go get him.”

“We’ll need to formulate a plan of attack,” Dinobot states as they starts heading in the direction of the ship.

The memories of what Darkstride did to him and his family play in his mind, filling his very being with terror.

“I don’t think I should join you…” Cheetor states.

“What?!” everyone says in unison.

“Spots, are you outta your processor!? He has the Boss-monkey!” Rattrap shouts.

“I doubt I would be of much help anyway with how much I keep freezing,” Cheetor says. “Besides, if you guys can’t beat Darkstride, what chance do I have?”

“Who da pit is Darkstride?!” Rattrap asks in exasperation.

“That’s his name,” Cheetor says. “Darkstride is the Ravager’s name.”

There's a silence.

“How do you know this, Little Cat?” Tigatron asks gently.

“Let’s just say he and I have a history,” Cheetor says as he turns away from them. 

Rattrap remembers what Cheetor said the evening before.

_"Not everyone who fought in the Great War was a soldier..."_

"Spots... If you know 'im... your experience is important to helpin' us save Boss Monkey," Rattrap tells him. "Help us save 'im."

“I can’t!” Cheetor shouts fearfully.  "I can't..."

Rattrap looks at Cheetor sympathetically as they all turn and leave to save Optimus.

Back on the ship, Darkstride has Optimus Primal tied to a flat table. He's removed the Maximal captain’s wrist guns and installed them into his own arms.

“These will make some fine trophies,” Darkstride says, with a dark smile on his faceplates.

Though weakened from the EMP pulse, Optimus tries to fight against his restraints.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks.

Darkstride smirks at the question. His response chills Optimus to the core.

“I enjoy watching bots suffer, especially if I’m the one making them suffer.”

“You won’t get away with this!” Optimus says, defiantly. “My crew will stop you.”

Darkstride smirks as he begins the warm up process to take off.

“I welcome them to try,” he states. “I can always use new trophies.”

Suddenly, his alarm sounds just as an image of the Maximal crew approaching his ship showed up on his computer screen. He smirks at Primal and says, “Speak of the devil; time to test my new trophy.”

Cheetor stops as he's heading back to the ship. His mind is racing as an internal war rages.

‘Did I do the right thing? What if they don’t save him? I can’t help them. I can never defeat him, I’m too scared!’

Suddenly, Cheetor gasps as a different memory floods his processor.

~

_It was the day of the attack._

_Cheetor was running through his hometown, trying to find cover from the fighting and the explosions. He stopped in the square of the town and looked around at all the fire and the smoke and the damage the fighting was causing to the once proud town. So many buildings and structures were on fire that the sky was filled with smoke as well as an orange glow. He was scared, so scared, as he saw mortars whistle and explode nearby._

_Suddenly a mortar hit the structure behind him, causing it to fall toward him. Before it landed on him, Cheetor felt himself lifted up and carried out of harm’s way. He looked up and saw the familiar white spotted face of his mother, her pale blue optics looking at him._

_“Mama, what’s happening?” Cheetor had asked his mother as she carried him in the direction of their small house away from the fighting._

_“The Maximals have engaged the Predacons, my son,” she said, her beautiful, pale blue faceplates marred with concern. “The Great War has come to our doorstep,” she said. “I need you to be brave for me; can you do that?”_

_“But I’m too scared,” the sparklet said as he looked up at her with big, amber optics, energon tears rolling down his darker blue faceplates._

_His mother heard a mortar whistle past them and instinctively dove for cover behind a structure with Cheetor and shielded him from the explosion as the mortar struck the building nearby._

_“Do you remember what I taught you about courage?” his mother asked him, looking down at him._

_“Courage isn’t the absence of fear…” Cheetor recited._

_“But…”_

_“…But the judgment that something else is more important than fear,” Cheetor finished reciting._

_“That’s right,” She said. “Being afraid shouldn't stop you from acting and doing what is right."_

~

As Cheetor’s processor comes back to the present, he remembers his mother’s words as he thinks of all the happy moments he’s had with Optimus; sees the Maximal captain smiling and laughing with him, sees him talking with him and explaining how to do things, remembers how safe Cheetor always feels with him and how important Optimus has become to him.

Then he remembers Optimus’ words from last night.

“I’m always here if you need me…”

Cheetor is turned around and running back toward Darkstride’s ship before he fully realizes he had done so.

He only hopes he can get there in time.


	4. Chapter 4

The other Maximals engage Darkstride and are losing badly. He defeats Rattrap, Rhinox, and Dinobot with little trouble with the added bonus of Optimus’ wrist guns.  Airazor and Tigatron are quite a bit harder for Darkstride until he hits them with an EMP blast.

Just as Darkstride stands over Airazor, he’s hit with a blast from a quasar gun.

“Leave her alone!”

There stands Cheetor, transformed and holding his still smoking blaster.

Rattrap, Rhinox, and Dinobot watch as Darkstride smirks at Cheetor.

“Wait, I know you,” he says. “You’re that slave with the sister that I so loved to torture. Didn’t I sell you into slavery in the first place after I murdered your family? Tell me, how’s that sister of yours doing?”

This statement receives a silent gasp from Rattrap and Rhinox and a look of empathy, quiet understanding, and respect from Dinobot.

“You’re going to pay for what you did to my family,” Cheetor tells him as he moves to attack Darkstride. Darkstride hits Cheetor with an EMP blast and Cheetor goes down.

Darkstride looked disappointed.

“Now that was just sad,” he says as he turns back toward Airazor. Suddenly he's hit with several large quasar blasts that send him reeling into a rock face behind his ship. Cheetor stands and aims his blaster at the rocks above the Predacon. He blasts and the rocks come cascading down on top of him.

“Did you really think my mom wouldn’t install a fail-safe into her glove to prevent it from hurting her own kids in case we got our hands on it?”

Then Cheetor runs to the ship’s airlock, opens it, and quickly runs inside. As he runs down the corridor, he hears his sister’s voice and heard his own gamma voice crying out in despair. He resists another flashback and finds his way to the bridge.

After looking around for a bit, he sees Optimus tied down to a flat table like the ones they had in the Axalon med bay, but there are these huge holes in the tops of his arms where his wrist guns should be.

“Big bot!” Cheetor says as he runs to Optimus’ side and releases the restraints on him. The Maximal leader is still weak from the EMP blast and having his wrist guns removed.

“Cheetor…” Optimus says, weakly.

“Try not to talk too much,” Cheetor tells him as he helps Optimus sit up. They both feel the ship shutter as the ship’s engine kicks on and the ship begins to lift off. “The launch sequence has started. We gotta bail. Here, lean on me.”

As Cheetor helps Optimus to the door, he hears the sound of Optimus’ wrist guns firing several times. Instinctively, Cheetor shoves Optimus out of the way right before getting struck by several energy blasts that makes him drop his gun and knocks himself back into the trophy rack behind him on the bridge.

Darkstride walks out of the shadows of the hallway beyond the door, the arm guns still smoking.

Optimus watches helplessly from the spot where he landed as Darkstride fires several more shots at Cheetor from Optimus’ arm guns and, after hitting his target several times, walks up to the ship’s console and inputs coordinates before telling the ship’s computer to start the jump sequence countdown when they are high enough.

Severely damaged, Cheetor’s vision fades as another flashback takes over.

~

_He was a gamma again._

_He and his group had succeeded in reaching the Maximal scouting patrol who took them all back to their base to assemble backup. It took a full day for them to get the backup they needed. Once backup had been assembled, Cheetor leads the way back to his former master’s place._

_What was waiting for them would plague Cheetor’s dreams for the rest of his life._

_Evidently, his former master had gotten word that there was a Maximal force coming to arrest him and liberate his slaves. Rather than be captured and stand trial for enslavement, he decided to slaughter every last sparkling, sparklet, or gamma he had enslaved and flee with his daughter, now a sparklet._

_As Cheetor walked past his former master’s chambers, he spotted something pink and yellow on the floor of the room._

_Cheetor cried out in despair as he ran across the room and kneeled beside the tiny body, energon tears flooding his optics. There, lying motionless on the floor was his baby sister; the body of the bot he’d left to protect her lying beside her. It was clear that without Cheetor there to protect her, she had been brutally beaten; likely by either Darkstride himself or their master. Her small body was already weak from whatever illness she had been suffering from, she wouldn’t have stood a chance._

_Cheetor cradled her small, fragile body in his arms as members of the patrol arrived in the room; drawn by his scream no doubt._

_He looked up at them._

_“Tell me she’s alive! Please!” he begged as energon tears rolled down his blue, spotted faceplates._

_One of the bots, a medic, came over to check her spark rate and was surprised._

_“She’s still alive! Just barely, but she’s alive,” he had told Cheetor._

_“Please, you have to help her. She’s all I have left,” Cheetor begged._

_The medic nodded and said, “I’ll do everything I can.”_

_He returned to the encampment with the bots and his sister and refused to leave her again for even a moment. He held her hand as the medics ran a scan to see how badly she was damaged and why she was sick; what they discovered was terrible._

_In addition to the damage, she had contracted a deadly virus that most bots were given an anti-virus for when they became a sparklet. Since she had been in captivity when she became a sparklet, she didn’t get it. Because she hadn’t been able to see a medic when she started to get sick, the virus had already spread too far to use the anti-virus now._

_In short, it was too late to help her._

_She was dying._

_“Brother?” whispered a soft voice as her optic leads opened. The pale blue light of her optics was so dim and her voice was so weak; Cheetor hated it._

_“I’m here, Sis.” Cheetor said, not noticing that the med crew had quickly and quietly left the room to give the two some privacy. Only the head medic and the bot that had lead the raid on the slavehold were still there, and they were busying themselves to make it seem like they weren’t listening._

_“I knew… you’d come back for me…” she had said, smiling at him._

_Cheetor held her hand._

_“I only wish I’d gotten there sooner,” he said, desperately. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”_

_“But you did save me, Brother,” she said. “I would have died a slave if you hadn’t gone for help. Now I’m free!”_

_That was her. That was his sister. She was always looking for that silver lining, always seeing the sunny side of every situation, no matter how dark it was._

_“Will you promise me something, Brother?” she asked. Cheetor nodded, unable to speak. “Let me live through you. Become a Maximal for the both of us and see the universe for me. Will you promise me that?”_

_“I promise,” he swore. “I love you, Sis.”_

_“I love you… Brother…” she said._

_Then her optics went dark as her spark extinguished. Cheetor stayed with her the entire night. He hissed at anyone who tried to take her shell from him or move him. In the end, after moving them to a more comfortable room, they let him stay with her that entire night; understanding that he had been through enough._

_By morning however, he knew he had to let them take her empty shell so it could be laid to rest._

_Over the next few days, his appetite failed him. He just felt numb. There was a funeral where she was laid to rest in Cybertropolis (the Maximal capital) beside the rest of Cheetor’s family, who had been confirmed dead the day before the funeral._

_Immediately following his sister’s service as Cheetor was leaving, he collapsed; the emotional and physical toll of the whole ordeal being too much for the young mech._

~

Severely damaged, Cheetor struggles to pick himself up as his processor comes back into focus. He has already lost everything that ever mattered to him before. He won't go through it again.

He aims the first weapon his hand falls on and fires at the Predacon. Though the shots hit their mark, they don’t seem to do much more than get his attention.

Darkstride frowns as he turns to looks at Cheetor.

“You just don’t know when to give up and die; do you?” he says, in annoyance.

“Nope…” Cheetor says defiantly.

Darkstride dives at Cheetor who quickly rolls out of the way, landing near another pile of Cybertronian arms and firing another random gun at the Predacon.

“Sparing your life was a mistake,” Darkstride says, as he easily deflects the blast from the gun with his arm. “Fortunately that’s a mistake I won’t make twice. I’m going to kill you, just like I killed your pathetic creator.”

Optimus watches as Cheetor glares up at Darkstride.

“She wasn’t pathetic!” he yells back.

“She couldn’t save you, could she? Just rolled over and died. Guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree; did it?” He said.

“Shut up!” Cheetor yells back at him.

Darkstride smirks darkly as he continues to mock him.

“How does it feel knowing family all died by my hand? How does it feel knowing you failed your sister?”

Cheetor growls as Darkstride pulls a familiar energon blade from behind his back.

“Do you remember? It was this blade that I drove through your creator before taking her EMP/Magnetic field generator as a trophy. The same blade I later used to murder your sisters and torture your remaining sister,” he gloats, enjoying the anguish he knows he's causing Cheetor. “Now I will use it to kill you.”

Suddenly Optimus pulls out his shoulder cannons and fires several rounds at the Predacon, knocking him into a trophy rack. It collapses on top of him, pinning him beneath some of his heavier trophies.

Cheetor stands and stumbles toward the Predacon. The look Cheetor gives Darkstride is one of pure hatred.

“You know if I had my mom’s EMP generator I could do this painlessly. It’s a shame I don’t,” he says as he reaches down and pulls Optimus’ wrist guns clean off Darkstride’s arms. 

After placing the wrist guns in his chest compartment, Cheetor then turns and walks toward Optimus.

Right as he reaches the older mech, Cheetor hears something that makes him freeze in his tracks.

“Mercy…” Darkstride begs. “Please…”

Optimus sees a pained look cross Cheetor’s facial features that he had never seen before. Suddenly the look melts into one of pure, unbridled fury as Cheetor turns on his heel.

“You want me to show you mercy?! After everything you've done!!”

He walks toward the Predacon as he continues.

“You took everything from me and now you dare to ask ME for mercy!!”

Darkstride fires the EMP generator at Cheetor, who completely ignores the hit.  He reaches forward and pulls his mother’s generator glove off Darkstride’s hand and puts it on his own.

“This is tool meant to heal!  You've turned it into a weapon!!”

Cheetor hits Darkstride with a strong enough EMP blast to hurt him but not enough to knock him out.

“You don't deserve mercy, Darkstride; especially not from me!”

Cheetor reaches over and throws a switch on the ship’s console.

“Self destruct sequence activated; 1 cycle until core explosion!” The ship’s computer states.

“ROT IN THE INFERNO!” Cheetor yells over the countdown.

He runs to Optimus and pulls the older mech’s arm over his shoulder to help him toward the door.  The pair reaches the door and jumps out right before the ship angles up and jumps into space.

Cheetor uses his mother’s generator glove to generate a magnetic field to slow their fall, but he knows they're still going to hit the ground hard.

“This is gonna hurt!” Cheetor says.

The two mechs hit the ground, tumbling and skidding until they come to a stop.

Cheetor lands on his back on a grassy knoll near where the ship took off.

Badly damaged and on the brink of going into stasis lock, Cheetor opens his optics weakly and looks up into the night sky just in time to see a small explosion in space where the ship jumped.

The other Maximals see the explosion.

Optimus had landed on his stomach next to Cheetor and after looking over his shoulder at the explosion, looks back at Cheetor. He sees two drops of fuchsia liquid trickle down the younger mech’s face and hears him utter the name “Prowl” before going into stasis lock.

The Maximal Captain looks sympathetically at Cheetor’s face as he whispers, “Never will he hurt another the way he hurt you.”


	5. Chapter 5

Cheetor is in the R chamber for a full two and a half solar cycles after that.

Rhinox repairs Optimus’ arms by hand; the repair is too meticulous to be done by the R chamber. Fortunately Rhinox, being a medic, knows how to appropriately use the EMP/Magnetic Field generator when doing repairs.

A day’s rest afterward sees the captain back to his feet, fully recovered.

Rhinox does some research while everyone is recovering and discovers a full report on the deaths of Cheetor’s creator and sisters. They had been labeled civilian casualties from the Battle of Ironmore, which had been the single most horrific battle of the last Great War in terms of civilian casualties. Very few survived what was later deemed a massacre. Cheetor and one of his sisters, a sparkling by the name of Prowl, had been labeled as missing, presumed to be taken hostage. Cheetor would have been very young at the time, probably just out of his sparkling years.

There was also a follow-up report several years later when he turned up again toward the end of the war. He and his sister had been sold to a Predacon commander where he was the Predacon’s personal slave and body guard.

Optimus feels a sick feeling in his fuel tank and shudders when he thinks of all that simple title implies.

Upon further research, it was learned that Darkstride had been working for the Predacon commander as a supervisor to his slaves.

Cheetor remained this bot’s slave until he was a gamma. He had gotten word that a Maximal scouting party would be in the area and had bravely risked everything (according to Dinobot, the punishment for a slave caught trying to escape was death) to reach them in order to bring them to free the others. Upon their return, they had discovered that all of the slaves his former master owned had been either slaughtered or severely injured and the Predacon commander had fled. One of the survivors was Cheetor’s sister, but it turned out that the reason she had been so sick was because she had contracted a deadly virus that was so far into its advanced stages; it was too late to give her the anti-virus. She died hours after being liberated from a combination of the virus and her injuries.

The report also stated that Cheetor had collapsed at his sister’s funeral and was later diagnosed with the same deadly virus that killed his sister (though Optimus was certain that the physical and emotional toll of everything Cheetor had been through played a part in his collapse as well). Since they had caught it early enough, they were able to administer the anti-virus to him and save his life. The report concluded that he was placed into an orphanage to await adoption. There was a note on his file that said he had been deemed “unadoptable” and would be placed in a home for unwanted bots.

There was a long silence after Rhinox reads the reports to them.

“You’d never guess it,” Rattrap says quietly, breaking the silence. Optimus can tell the spy is feeling more than a little guilty about what he said to Cheetor the night Darkstride landed. “That kid’s always so happy and optimistic; always ready to greet the day or joke around, always playing. You’d never guess he’s been to the pit and back.”

“There’s a saying I’ve often heard,” Rhinox says. “‘The saddest people smile the brightest.’”

There was another silence.

Airazor states, “At least that creepy trophy hunter is gone. Good Riddance!” Airazor says.

Optimus keeps quiet. The others assume that the ship’s auto destruct got triggered during their fight, and Optimus didn’t try to correct them. While he's pretty sure none of them would judge Cheetor, he doesn’t know if Cheetor wants them to know and truth be told, Optimus doesn’t mind keeping that detail between the two of them.

“Agreed; Little Cat should be safe now,” Tigatron says.

“For now he is,” Dinobot adds ominously.

Everyone looks at him.

“What do you mean, Dinobot?” Optimus asks tensely.

“According to the report, Cheetor’s former owner was never captured,” Dinobot explains. “The trophy hunter is gone, but his owner is still out there. He will come after him one day and he will try to kill Cheetor if he gets the chance. As I stated before; the punishment for a slave running away is death.”

A silence envelopes the crew as they all digest what Dinobot told them.

Optimus thinks of how happy Cheetor always seems when Optimus was around and how he likes to keep Optimus company on some nights when Optimus is on night scanner duty and Cheetor can't sleep. He knows it's something he only does with Optimus. Some mornings, he finds Cheetor sleeping in the hall outside Optimus’ quarters when Optimus or he doesn't have night scanner duty. He doesn’t do it every night, usually every other week or so.

The realization hits Optimus.

Originally, Optimus assumed that Cheetor was just being hyper-active and maybe a little bit affectionate, but now that he has some idea of everything Cheetor’s been through; after everything Cheetor’s witnessed it wouldn’t surprise Optimus if Cheetor has nightmares.

So whenever he comes to Optimus, whenever he can't sleep, it's because he has nightmares. He's trying to reassure himself that he's safe under the guise that he's trying to be helpful or is just hyper active. He feels safe with Optimus, probably for the first time since Primus knows when.

A protective feeling wells up inside of Optimus.

It's Rattrap who says.

“Over my empty shell.”

Their optics all meet and its clear they all agree, even Dinobot. 

Silence envelopes them once more as Optimus looks at the report about Cheetor’s mother’s death. He gets the surprise of his life when he recognizes her.

“Rhinox! Cheetor’s mother; we met her!” he points out as he shows Rhinox.

“You did?” Airazor asks.

“Moonbeamer!” Rhinox exclaims. “She served with us during the Great War. She was a medic I believe.”

“I remember she was real young too; probably around Cheetor’s age now,” Optimus says. “I don’t know the details, but she was forced to retire young after an incident nearly ended her life.”

“What was she like?” Tigatron asks.

Optimus and Rhinox have to think for a moment.

“Actually, she was a lot like Airazor," Rhinox says.  "She wasn’t a very big femme, but she was feisty and could hold her own in a fight pretty well. In addition to being a medic, she was a marksman and a skilled fighter.”

“The thing about her was her level of dedication to doing what was right, even if it meant she had to defy and order and stand alone," Optimus tells them. "She was also the most stubborn fembot you could ever meet and was fiercely protective of those she cared about.”

“Sounds like someone we know,” Tigatron says affectionately.

~

Optimus walks onto the bridge a few days later to find Rhinox holding the EMP/Magnetic Field generator glove in his hands like it's the most fragile thing in the galaxy.

“You ok?” Optimus asks the thunderstruck bot.

“Just… stunned…” Rhinox says, looking up at Optimus. “Cheetor’s out of the R chamber.” Optimus nods as Rhinox continues, “he…he gave me his mother’s generator glove. ‘Said it was supposed to be a medical tool, not a weapon; that I could put it to better use than he could.”

“Where is he?” Optimus asks.

Rhinox gestures to the door leading outside.

Cheetor is in his robot mode lying flat on his back as he looks up at the stars. He closes his optics as a happier memory floods his vision.

~

_He was a sparkling playing with his sisters in front of their house in Ironmore while their mother watched from the doorway. When they got tired, they all laid flat on their backs in a circle on the roof of their house looking up at the stars. As they lay there, they pointed out different star clusters and clouds of dust that formed shapes in the sky._

~

The sound of footsteps brings Cheetor out of his memory. He opens his optics as Optimus sits beside him in his robot form.

“Optimus! How’re your arms? Are you feeling ok?” Cheetor asks the older mech as he sits up.

Optimus shows Cheetor his arms.

 “All recovered.” Then he looks at Cheetor and continues, “though to be honest, I’m more concerned about you. How are you holding up?”

“I’ve been through worse,” Cheetor says simply as he looks down at the grass. 

Optimus looks at Cheetor sadly and nods.

“I understand now why you don’t like talking about what happened.”

Cheetor looks up at Optimus.

“It isn’t so much that I don’t like talking about it, Optimus. I’m just not used to telling people about it. Those who know about it lived it with me, read the reports, or heard it from someone who read the report and those who don’t already know usually assume I was just a regular orphan.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a little bit.

“I’m a little confused about something,” Optimus begins.

“What’s that?” Cheetor asks.

“Well, the report said you had been placed in a permanent young bot’s home... but if I recall right, you were living on the street when I recruited you,” Optimus says.

“I’m guessing you didn’t read the news article then,” Cheetor says.

“What article?” Optimus asks, looking down at Cheetor.

Cheetor wraps his arms around his legs.

“The bot that ran the home I was placed in was… let’s just say he wasn’t fit to raise youngsters. Saying he abused us is like saying Rhinox is just a little smart. By the time Maximal Law Enforcement had been alerted, each of us had been tortured or starved; neither of us had beds.” Cheetor closes his optics against the memory. “When he was arrested, we were all taken from him. They were going to place me in another home with another bot... but I didn’t trust them anymore. I ran away and lived on the streets,” Cheetor says.

“How did you survive?” Optimus asks.

He isn’t surprised Cheetor had opted to live on the streets. He couldn’t imagine everything Cheetor had been forced to endure under that bot’s “care”, in addition to everything he’d already been through.

“I worked several odd jobs to feed myself; usually as a serving bot or in a factory. When I couldn’t make enough, I resorted to stealing. I never took things from those who needed them, just enough to survive. Eventually I was found by the Cybertronian Traveling Circus.” Cheetor smiles. “They took me in, gave me a home, taught me to perform in their shows, and gave me the help I needed when I didn’t have the ability to ask for it.”

“What kind of help?” Optimus asks.

“It’s complicated,” Cheetor says. “I had these horrible nightmares every time I closed my optics; still do really, they’re just not an everyday thing like they were before. I cried myself to sleep some nights while other nights I was restless. During the day I was just angry at everything. Wheeler said I had an ailment common among soldiers from the war.”

Optimus nods.

He knows the ailment well from his time in the Great War.

“Who’s Wheeler?”

“He’s the ringmaster from the circus,” Cheetor explains. “In his younger days he had been training to become a medical bot before the Split that started the Autobot/Decepticon Great War.”

“Faction?” Optimus asks.

Cheetor looks up at Optimus.

 “He didn’t claim one. He said not everyone took a side during the Split and he was one of them. He and a small group banded together and cared for civilians who were caught between the two factions. When the Autobot/Decepticon Great War ended, he still refused to claim a faction. So instead of choosing a side, he formed a circus, taking in countless bots and helping them however he could.”

Optimus smiles.

Hhe sounds like an upstanding bot.”

Cheetor snorts.

“Are you kidding? He’s so crooked; if he swallowed a nail, it would come out a screw.” he says with a small chuckle. “That being said, he was a con artist with standards and because of his medical background he knew what was wrong with me and how to treat it. More importantly, he gave me freedom.”

“What kind of freedom?” Optimus asks.

“The freedom to choose and the freedom to say no if I wanted to,” Cheetor says. “That may not seem like much, but back then it was everything to me.  I could come and go as I pleased; he rarely gave me orders and when he did, I could disobey if I didn’t like it. I had just been enslaved and when I was liberated I was placed in position where I had no choices at all. Wheeler understood that by the time he had taken me in, I had not only lost the ability to trust mechs in positions of authority, but I couldn’t tell a good command from a bad one. He knew the only way I was going to relearn it was by making mistakes.”

“Is that why you don’t always follow my orders? You don’t know if you can trust me,” Optimus asks.

The notion hurt, but Optimus has to admit that he understands if that was the case.

Cheetor catches Optimus’ arm and shakes his head rapidly.

“I trust you more than anyone!" Cheetor blurts out.  He catches himself.  "I mean, it might have been at first but it’s more complicated than that. You don’t know what it’s like to be controlled, to not even have the ability to say no if you don’t want to do something. I refuse to let anyone control me like that again. I will never follow an order that I don’t agree with. If not following an order is a mistake, then so be it!”

Optimus has to admit, Cheetor’s make sense. Optimus has a life of privilege back home. While it has its downsides, he knows he's luckier than most. He doesn’t know what it was like to lose everything like Cheetor has, to have no choice BUT to do as he's told. He doesn't know what its like to lose your ability to trust anyone but yourself.

To be honest, Optimus doesn't really mind that Cheetor is strong willed and stubborn. Even Optimus makes bad calls now and again and it's nice to have someone loyal enough to follow him, but honest enough to tell him when they think what he's doing is a mistake.

Now that Optimus knows about Cheetor’s past, it’s probably what kept Cheetor alive through everything he’s been through.

Optimus places a hand on Cheetor’s shoulder.

“I trust you more than anyone too.”

Cheetor looks up at the older mech in surprise.

“You do?”

Optimus nods.

“You’re always so loyal to me and have never once let me down when I’ve needed you.  I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to face Darkstride again after everything he did to you, but you still came through for me.”

“You don’t think less of me for… how the fight ended… do you?” Cheetor asks.

Optimus’ optics never leave Cheetor’s.

“Why would I? You did what had to be done. If anything, it just makes me respect you more.”  
  
Suddenly, Cheetor throws his arms around Optimus’ mid-section, catching the older mech off guard. He quickly recovers and wraps his arms around the catbot and hugs him back.

“You mentioned you still have nightmares,” Optimus says after a while.

Cheetor looks up at him and nods.

“They aren’t as frequent as they used to be and the worst ones are rare these days, but they still happen.” 

“You know my door is always open to you. If you have a nightmare and you don’t want to be alone, you are always welcome to come to me no matter what. Understand?”

Cheetor nods.

He shifts so he can rest his head on Optimus’ leg.

Optimus smiles softly at the youngster as he rests his hand on Cheetor’s helmet.


End file.
